[kwlug-disc] Your country needs you (or "Our MP is on the C-32 committee")

[Chris Bruner]

I wonder if it would be possible to have a chat at a lug meeting, 
letting him know that open source and free software advocates are very 
concerned about this matter. If it's just 1 or 2 people calling and 
chatting it may not have much of an impact, however with a lug meeting 
of 50 or so members ....


On 11/20/2010 10:16 AM, Denver Gingerich wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Apparently (and quite surprisingly to me) Peter Braid is one of the 12
> people on the committee that will be revising Bill C-32:
>
> http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/5249
> http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=4774129&Language=e&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=3
>
> For those who are in Waterloo, this is an excellent opportunity to get
> your voice heard.  The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to
> arrange an in-person meeting with him by calling his office at (519)
> 746-1573 and saying you're a constituent that would like to chat with
> him.  Call as many times as needed until you get a firm date; I've
> found that MPs' offices often say "we'll schedule it and call you
> back" but it could be a week or two before they get back to you.  The
> squeaky wheel gets the grease (the persistent constituent gets the
> firm meeting date).  Oh yeah, and the sooner the better because I've
> heard that the government wants Bill C-32 passed before the end of the
> year!
>
> I think the most important thing to point out is that the WIPO
> Internet Treaties (WCT and WPPT), which the Conservatives want to
> ratify, do not require the prohibition of "anti-circumvention"
> (restriction removal) tools like doubleTwist and libdvdcss, which Bill
> C-32 prohibits in its current form.  Geist makes this very clear in
> his article, "The Case for Flexibility in Implementing the WIPO
> Internet Treaties: An Examination of the Anti-Circumvention
> Requirements" (don't worry, the "EULA" is just BY-NC-ND):
>
> http://www.irwinlaw.com/pages/content-commons/the-case-for-flexibility-in-implementing-the-wipo-internet-treaties--an-examination-of-the-anti-circumvention-requirements---michael-geist
>
> To demonstrate how often TPMs (use "TPMs" instead of "DRM" with MPs as
> it more accurately maps onto the Bill C-32 terminology) are used and
> whether C-32 restricts their removal, check out these posts of mine:
>
> http://ossguy.com/?p=612 - "DVDs and TPMs: how often is CSS used?": a
> list of DVDs and whether they use CSS; conclusion is that about 98% of
> DVDs use CSS (useful in demonstrating that TPMs are extremely
> prevalent so one should not take the question of how to regulate them
> lightly)
> http://ossguy.com/?p=662 - "What C-32 means for DVDs": confirmation
> that CSS is a TPM (sort of)
> http://ossguy.com/?p=696 - "What C-32 means for jailbreaking":
> confirmation that jailbreaking is prohibited by C-32 (also sort of)
> http://ossguy.com/?p=717 - "Will exemption rulemaking work for C-32?":
> analysis of how the US' exemption process works (it's not really
> useful, so we shouldn't depend on it); related to "What C-32 means for
> jailbreaking"
>
> Along with pointing out that the WIPO Internet Treaties don't require
> prohibition of anti-circumvention tools, it's important to note that
> prohibiting them is in fact a very bad idea, as hopefully the above
> articles will help to show.  It's likely best to approach this from
> the competition point of view, ie. if I buy a movie on iTunes, it's
> anti-competitive for Apple to restrict that movie to be played only on
> Apple devices and as a result, it is necessary to have circumvention
> tools to bypass anti-competitive restrictions (so I can play it on the
> device of my choice instead of the device of Apple's choice).
>
> I hope this is helpful.  If you're planning to visit Braid and want
> some tips, let the list know (or me directly) and we'll help you out.
>
> Denver
> http://ossguy.com/
>
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